Princess Javalina

Jenna loves her 1 yr old kitty, Javalina. Javalina is a very special and unique kitty and pretty much allows Jenna to do with her as she will.

Jenna Loves Cats

Jenna adores her kitties. And they adore her. We often find both of our cats snuggled up on her bed while she watches Noggin, or while she's playing with her toys. And of course, the kitties enjoy snuggling with her at night, too.
Jenna & Javalina
Jenna with Javalina and Oreo.

Blue's Clues?

What did this cat do?
Read more on our Laughing Orca Ranch Blog:
Blue's Clues

Crunch...crunch

Do you want a 'cute-snack'?
Then visit our: Ranch Blog

Zuni's Growing

Zuni's about 3 months old now and has already grown alot since we brought her home a week before Christmas. She has also calmed down a few of her annoying puppy habits, which means less bleeding on our parts. Giving her her own basket of dog toys has really helped. When she forgets that chewing a human is not nice, we offer her a toy, or just tell her, "Get your toy" and off she goes! Zuni is so much fun!

And she is very smart, too. She learns fast and is already mostly house-trained. As long as we remember to take her outside on regular intervals, she makes no messes in the house. And once outside, all it takes, is "Go potty, Zuni" and there she goes. Easy Peasy!

I gave her another bath last week, and lots of puppy fuzz got washed out during the process, replaced with beautiful, glistening, black adult fur.

She is still being crate-traned, especially when we're not home, but she is growing bigger and smarter every day. And we just had to share some gushingly cute photos of our little Zuni.


Zuni's ears are both almost entirely erect now.
Zuni enjoys laying in the sunlight.
Zuni taking a rest from playing with Jenna and one of her favorite toys. We call it the green fluff monster.
Zuni found one of Jenna's plastic food toys.
Taking a rest in the sunlight.

Bon Appetite!

While eating lunch, the kids felt sorry for our kitty, Javalena, and asked if she could sit down and enjoy lunch at the table with us.
I could have been one of those stuffy, iron-fisted, rule-monger Moms, "No Animals at the Table!" style.
But why?
Are the 'No-kitties-at-the-table Police' going to show up at my door to give me a fine?

No, of course not. This is our house and our family and our pets. We love our house, our family and our pets. And we want to have fun, too!

So, here ya go. Kitty at the table pictures:

Javalena was surprisingly well-behaved at the table. She didn't talk with her mouth full, make rude bodily function noises, or kick anyone under the table. She didn't even climb up onto the table either.
Her only fault was not using utensils. But in many cultures, utensils aren't considered proper etiquette at the table anyway. Most of all, we just really enjoyed her sweet presence at the table.

Llamas and Dog Walking

John enjoys taking our German Shepherd Puppy for walks up in the pasture when he lets the llamas out in the morning. Zuni seems to enjoy the walks, too. And the llamas are very curious and like to follow them both around.

To see more llama stories and photos, click here:
More Llama Land

Feline Photography

Is there anything more calming that watching a cat sleep in the sun? (Our 10 month old Manx kitty in my daughter's window asleep). It's amazing how far she can stretch out, too. (Click for larger view)
Oreo's beautiful tuxedo kitty face.
He has the cutest 'freckle'/'birthmark' on his chin.

Birding Photography

One of my favorite past times is watching birds and trying to figure out which species they are. And of course, a bird feeder is a great place to bring the birds close enough to enjoy.

These photos were all taken from our master bathroom window. (Click for larger view)

Large flocks of marauding Pinyon Jays take over the bird feeders and pastures sometimes. They chase all the gentle small birds away. So we chase the Jays away (or else they will devour all the food within minutes)
This jay is trying to get to the tiny leftover suet block.
A pretty little White Crowned Sparrow
A mix of 3 sparrow species. Not sure which kind.
What appears to be a junco and a sparrow. But don't hold me to that, because I can't see their faces or details very well.
Oreo, our 5 year old kitty, enjoys bird watching, too (albeit for different reasons, I'm sure)

Gratuitus Cuteness

It's only fair, since I've been posting cute pics of our kitties, that I post some of our German Shepherd puppy, Zuni, too. She has been with us since the week before Christmas, and after going to the vet for a check-up, deworming and vaccines, and getting fed regular full meals each day, she has grown alot, filled out, and become a perky, healthy puppy. We all enjoy her very much, well, except for those sharp puppy nippers that mouth everything that moves, including our feet (ouch!).

Now say "Awwwwww!"
And again, "Awwwww, too cute!"
You didn't say it, did you? Zuni is sticking out her tongue at you.
Ok, now you must admit, I'm cute, right?

Unique and Special

I truly believe that animals (and people) come into our lives for a reason. It happens all the time in my own life.
Case in fact, when we adopted our cat, Oreo, we had not been actively looking for a new cat, but it had been over 10 years since my first cat, Bugsy had died of old age.
And my heart must have been ready because when I first saw that little tuxedo kitty, almost an exact replica of my beloved Bugsy, we immmediately contacted the people giving him away on Freecycle and picked him up the same day!
And he has been a huge part of our family ever since. We love him dearly.

Something similar happened when we adopted our second kitty Javelina, too.

We were preparing to go pet/house sit for some friends in Arizona for the second time last year when for some reason, I decided to sign on the local San Pedro County Freecycle before we left. Immediately I noticed a post offering a female Manx kitten.
Ironically, we had been wishing for one ("The Secret") ever since we visited my best friend in Texas, who has had a beautiful female Manx cat for many years since adopting it while working in Singapore.

And I had also been discussing the idea of finding Jenna her own affectionate kitty to call her own, because she adores kitties, but Oreo wasn't meeting that desire because he is more aloof and independant, and only affectionate when he wants to be.

So, when we finally arrived in Arizona and contacted the people who had the Manx kitten...we were elated to find out that she was still available, and went straight away to pick her up. We fell instantly in love, but Jenna and her kitten bonded instantly and are still inseperable.

They have a very unique and close relationship and they both adore each other. But Javelina can be such an odd kitty, too. She plays like a dog sometimes, and sometimes like a big cat. Yet always she is the most affectionate, patient, and loving cat, especially towards her Jenna.

We know Javelina came into Jenna's life for a very special reason, and she is adding such a special element to our daughter's life, too.

Javelina always sleeps with Jenna, and they curl up together very cozy.
Javelina will fetch balls and she likes to nibble dog bisquits, too.


Our beautiful kitty.

Kitty Buddies

We never thought we'd ever see our two cats, Javelina and Oreo sleeping or laying down THIS close together. Oreo is our 4 year old big boy, who've we had since he was a few months old. He's a bit stubborn, full of attitude with a typical cat-personality ('I'll accept attention only when I want it, thank you.').

On the other hand, Javelina is our 10 month old sweet little girl kitty. We adopted her this past summer while we were pet-sitting for friends in Arizona. Javelina is very atypical of cat behaviors, which happens to be typical for the breed of cat she is: Manx.
Manx tend to be more like puppy dogs, always seeking and available for human attention, playing games, chasing balls, retrieving, etc.
She also has some Leopard/Big Cat behaviors, too. She will attack and kill my bath rugs, then drag them under my bed to do with them what she will. My bathrugs never had a chance.

The problems occur when Javelina tries to engage Oreo in a usual playtime and Oreo would rather be a large slug and sleep. Javelina will continue to antagonize until Oreo is forced to do something, usually defend himself by attacking Javelina. And they roll, bite, snarl and jump all over each other, until one gives up and waves a white flag. (well, not literally).

We've been grateful that this new house of ours is much bigger and has two levels so that the cats can have space apart from each other, but when my parents came for Christmas, we were forced to keep both cats in our bedroom suite because my parents are allergic to cats.

So for a week they had to deal with each other
in close-quarters.....and THIS
is the shocking result!


I had to take this photo by holding the camera over my head because I was laying down on the bed with my feet under that quilt the cats are snuggled up with.

Playful puppy

While outside today working on the chicken coop, I took some cute pictures of our new puppy, Zuni.
For more pictures of Zuni and our 'almost completed' chicken coop, click:
Laughing Orca Ranch

An Early Christmas Present

We adopted a dog!!

Let me start at the beginning before anyone thinks we just jump out and do things without any thought.
Ten years ago, we had to euthanize our beloved German Shepherd girl, named Cory. She was a big part in our lives for over 13 years. It was so sad for us, but especially for John, that he didn't want to consider adopting any new dogs, but especially not a German Shepherd.
But over the past year or two, John has been talking about finding the perfect German Shepherd to be a part of family once again.
We had decided that we would start looking in the Spring, after we had moved onto our mini-ranch.
Well it appears that those plans have been jump-started!
John was out driving around Albuquerque and happened to notice someone selling puppies from the back of their truck. And of course, those puppies just so happened to be German Shepherds.
And of course, John had to just stop 'and take a look'.
Well the rest is history!

The parents of the puppies were also there and they were gorgeous. John fell in love with the smallest puppy in the litter, but because John had to go back to work, he paid the man the money, and went on his way. But it just so happens that the man selling the puppies lives only 15 minutes away from us, so John made plans to go pick up the puppy after he was done with work.

So, we've had this darling little 7 week old German Shepherd for 3 days now. When she first arrived, she was dirty (I gave her a bath), very skinny with hip bones sticking out, and a bloated belly (worms). She was also not very lively.

Because she had not been given any vaccines or been wormed, John took her into the Vet on Saturday and got all that done. We've been giving her anti-diahrea medicine and along with the food several times a day, the worming and shots, and love and attention.....she is really thriving, full of puppy enthusiasm, and very loving and adorable.

This puppy is so smart. We keep her in the crate at night and when we can't actively supervise her. But she is already letting us know when she has to go potty, and as soon as she's outside, she gets it all done, and wants to go back inside.

John is SO happy. We could never have bought him an store-bought gift that would have brought him this much joy. Yep. He's got Puppy Love!


John taking a little rest on the floor with our new puppy, whose name is now, "Zuni".
Cute little puppy face.

It melted and began again

The snow...that is! After the snow on Saturday evening, we were able to spend most of the day working on the chicken coop on Sunday, because all of the snow had melted by mid-morning.

But last night it began snowing again, and continued into Monday. And it's still snowing.

A photo taken of the barn and part of the pasture. Notice, Catlinite, our white llama inside the barn.(Click photo to make it larger)
This photo was taken from my daughter's bedroom window, looking down onto the chicken house and coop.(not yet completed, but getting there)
Photo taken from the master bedroom balcony looking East.
Here's one of our 2 kitties, Javalena, taking a cozy winter nap.

Upside Down Kitty Fun

Jenna loves her kitty and Javalena adores Jenna. I've never seen a cat tolerate as much as Javalena does. And no matter what Jenna is doing, Javalena has to be right beside her.

Koi World

I recently added a few hidey places for our Koi fish pond. The 6 koi seem to appreciate the rocks and roofing tile to hide under.The white Koi seems to appreciate it the most.

Cat Scratch Fever

Instead of buying those bulky, floor-stealing carpet cat scratchers, I can whole-heartedly recommend buying one of these cardboard scratchers. We bought ours in a pack of 3 at IKEA, but I'e seen them at stores like Target, PetSmart and Walmart, too.
Besides being inexpensive, they take up less room. And when they get all gnarly from being scratched, are easily replaced or recycled.
Our cats love these things, and our carpet and furniture remains safe from claws. They can also be mounted on a wall, too.

Oreo even enjoys taking naps on them.
Here's a good top view of our IKEA cardboard cat scratcher.

Shopping with Kitty

All along I've been talking about Jenna and the special relationship she has with the kitten we adopted last summer in Arizona. Javalina, a Manx (tail-less) cat, is about 8 months old now and Jenna and Javalena's bond just grows stronger and stronger.
Javalina would do anything for Jenna. She has the patience I've never before seen in a cat. Jenna carries Javalina everywhere, she reads books, watches TV, plays with toys with her, too. Javalina rarely leaves her side while were home, even when Jenna is taking a bath. Sometimes Javalina jumps in, too!
And every night, Javalina curls up around Jenna and they both sleep contentedly together.

The other day, Jenna took Javalina shopping with her....as her baby. We were all amazed that once Jenna had placed Javalina in the shopping basket, that this kitty never complained or tried to escape. She just sat in that basket for about 10 minutes while Jenna pushed her all around the house.

Cozy Cats

We have a couple of cozy, happy cats. They seem very happy sharing our home and our lives...and we enjoy having them around, too.

Oreo and Javalena believe that the video chairs belong to them. They could choose to nap on the big comfy sofa, or on our beds, but they both prefer being in the same room with their family. And near to each other, too.
Which is kind of cool because when Javalena arrived, we weren't too sure that Oreo would ever accept her, but now they romp, play, cuddle and hang out together.....like family.